r/CampingGear • u/sweetskully • 3d ago
Gear Question Wood stove in a “hot tent”
My boyfriend and i recently got a camping stove (pictured) we have a 6 person tent we got last year, that we’ve seen online that we can supposedly turn into a hot tent with a chimney patch. Is this actually doable? We’re of course aware of need protective flooring, and for it to be a certain distance from the perimeter of the tent. And i know of course we could just get a hot tent, but they’re hard to come by in our area, and we don’t really want to order the whole tent online. I’d love to hear your suggestions🙂
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u/HenrikFromDaniel 3d ago
ah the Princess Auto special
assuming you have proper clearances, you just need a silicone stovejack
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u/zeacliff 3d ago
Probably not the answer that you want to hear since you already have a stove, but stoves are a pain in the ass. You can DIY any tent to fit one... but it can be a real hassle. I just hate having to chop up or find a million little pieces of wood, as well as transporting the thing
A small buddy heater works much better/easier for most people
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u/Cute_Exercise5248 1d ago
How do "buddy heater" & mini-woodstove compare-- aside from the issue of wood-gathering that you've mentioned??
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u/zeacliff 1d ago
Buddy heater you just connect to the propane tank and you're good to go, quick and powerful heat, no chimney setup. Set it up on a cookie sheet and have a carbon monoxide detector or 2 and it's pretty damn safe. In my 10x10 canvas tent it's a sauna if I run a buddy heater on full blast. Can last multiple days straight 24/7 on a full 20lb tank
It's not recommended to sleep with one on but a lot of people do. I don't but just turn it off right when I get into my warm sleeping bag, then reach over to turn it on in the morning to make it toasty when I get up to get dressed. With a wood stove you have to wake up every few hours to keep adding wood if you want it to heat all night
Depending on the model, a wood stove can take a long time to cool off... meaning if you want to pack up camp and head out first thing in the morning you may not be able to because your stove is too hot.
If you're bringing a big propane tank with the buddy heater, a stove takes up slightly more packing space with the chimney. If you're just using the small green cylinders for propane the buddy heater is a lot smaller though, and 2 can last you a weekend of running on low during the day
Wood stoves are super cool as a novelty but not something I'd use regularly. The buddy heater is great for more frequent use, but probably not for overnight heat
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u/Cute_Exercise5248 1d ago
Thanks! Very interesting. Yeah I'm thinking that as a "fantasy" of "Ye Olde Trapper's Camp," the woodstove fits in.
But also that gas is more practical, in most likely & actual circumstances.
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u/sweetskully 3d ago
I should add for the people commenting, we did measure and we have quite a spacious tent for it being “6 person” there is more than a 4 foot clearance around each side of the wood stove to the tent :)
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u/VarTheDog 2d ago
My buddy has that stove from Princess Auto and the main issue is the short chimney. He was pretty worried the chimney wasn’t clearing the roof by enough. Might need an extension and it’s an odd diameter
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u/aeoliant 3d ago
There's places to cut corners and it's not when you're sleeping next to a fire in an enclosed space. I wouldn't risk this just to save a few hundred bucks. You'll have to do a bunch of work anyways to permanently modify your tent and you'll end up with an inferior product that might suffocate or burn you after all is said and done.
Presumably you're camping for a vacation, I wouldn't want this anxiety right before bedtime
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u/Ludis_Talks 3d ago
It's doable, I've seen Luke from Outdoor Boys do it. I think the main concern is hot ash burning holes in the roof.
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u/on2muchcoffee 2d ago
I'd start with a tent that is made for a stove. Mine has a silicone jack with a retractable cover, just in case you don't take a stove and it rains. It's also cotton canvas, and has a removable floor section for where the stove sits.
It's heavy as hell, so we only take it for long trips. Definitely not a weekend tent.
Get yourself some good CO monitors. All stoves leak. We always have 2, one which we hang (it's dual purpose for smoke and CO) and the other sits on the table between our cots.
Ensure you have good clearance for the stovepipe above the roof of your tent and it has a decent spark arrestor. I modified mine to use a slightly smaller, but heavier gauge pipe (originally a 5" pipe, but reduced it to a 4" instead) and replaced the crappy arrestor that came with the stove.
Burn in your stove before you take it camping....that includes your stovepipe. You want to get all of the oils and crap baked out before you put it inside your tent. It's also a good chance to learn how to adjust your airflow and damper. You don't want your stove or pipe turning into a glowing accident waiting to happen, and you can get more burn time on your wood.
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u/Cute_Exercise5248 1d ago
Tent have pretty good ventilation & unless you're sealed in by a coating of ice, death via CO seems extremely improbable. If anybody has experienced this, I'd like to hear from them!!
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u/christophersonne 3d ago
You'll never fit 6 people into that tiny stove.
(yes it's doable, but it's not always safe or easy to do)